Klein: It ain’t over on public financing

Sen. Jeff Klein of the Independent Democratic Conference says in a Saturday morning statement that while the budget deal contains many worthwhile items, “work on campaign finance reform is not yet done and as part of this budget process we must continue to negotiate towards a comprehensive system of public financing.”

That’s a somewhat confusing statement from a legislative leader who ostensibly had to sign off on the budget bills that were submitted last night — including the one that restricts public financing to the 2014 Comptroller’s race and paying for it with unclaimed funds — a proposal that has drawn the ire of good government groups, although as numerous Cuomo administration officials have pointed out over the course of the past 24 hours, many of those people praised the idea of a comptroller-only pilot program for public financing when the Assembly passed it in 2011.

Sources within Klein’s camp insisted the current bill language is a placeholder, but would not explain the negotiating strategy behind letting this particular locomotive begin moving down the track.

This isn’t the first time Klein has found himself torn between supporting the imperatives of his Republican partner in leadership Dean Skelos — who opposes public financing — and the progressive causes the IDC leader supports.

Klein still wield the power to block any budget bill from the Senate floor whenever it comes up for a vote, but that nuclear option could cause generalized budget chaos — and according to Vielkind’s First Law of Cuomo, “Chaos is not Cuomonian.”

But is it Kleinian?

Here’s Klein’s full statement:

This budget delivers on our promise to provide high-quality, full-time universal pre-k to tens of thousands of New York City four-year-olds starting this September. This budget also makes serious investments in our seniors, by expanding prescription drug coverage and freezing skyrocketing rents, and in working parents, by increasing state funding for daycare programs. This budget will also make a major investment in middle class housing, by establishing a Mitchell-Lama 2020 housing trust fund and committing to build thousands of new affordable housing units in New York’s biggest cities. However, our work on campaign finance reform is not yet done and as part of this budget process we must continue to negotiate towards a comprehensive system of public financing.

Who elected Klein to make decisions for the rest of us. Since he is not a Democrat, he is a Cuomo DINO. This is the only way the Republicans can continue to exist in the majority. Since political parties do not matter why not be honest, those of us north of Westchester just do not count

Public Financing of campaigns gives more power to sitting politicians. They will write the campaign funding rules make it harder for newcomers to come and take their positions of power away. You can bank on that!

Will the real Jeff Klein please stand up? Take a position – any position – and stick to it. Right now it seems like the IDC crowd has no political conviction whatsoever. If you believe in public campaign financing, then take that position and dig your feet in and don’t let go. If you don’t, then accept a budget that rejects it and stand by it. But saying you are all for it while signing off on a budget that ignores it will please nobody, and makes you look weak and ineffectual. It opens the door for ollie Koppell.